often angry. always gen x.

oh, those principled house republicans.

All that concern for free-market principles and out-of-control spending (without a working alternative to the bailout after a week of bipartisan negotiation). How lofty their objections; how quickly they voted for the same freaking bill–with $100-some billion added pork–just a few days and a 777-point Dow drop later. Truly, deeply, inspiring.

Rose City Archery Inc., an Oregon company that makes arrows used by children, hit a bull’s-eye with Senate legislation that would rescue Wall Street banks.

Senators attached a provision repealing a 39-cent excise tax on wooden arrows designed for children to an historic $700 billion financial-markets rescue that passed tonight by a vote of 74-25. The provision, originally proposed by Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, will save manufacturers such as Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon, about $200,000 a year.

It’s one of dozens of tax breaks benefiting Hollywood producers, stock-car racetrack owners and Virgin Islands rum-makers included in the broader legislation in an effort to win support from House Republicans, whose defection contributed to a rejection of an earlier version of the legislation two days ago on a 228-205 vote.

“This is how Washington works,” said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington research group. “A big pot of pork is their recipe for final passage.”

. . . The Congressional Budget Office said today the tax provisions will add about $112 billion to budget deficits over the next five years because the legislation doesn’t contain enough offsetting revenue increases to keep the budget balanced.[disgusted emphasis mine]

I’m stymied on finding a way to post this video directly here, so looks like I’ll have to settle for posting the link. It’s a great exchange between Rachel Maddow and CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who expresses her great disdain as a fiscal conservative for the pork-filled Senate version of the bailout.